Nazi-looted Goudstikker painting found at home of SS collaborator’s heirs

A work of art looted by the Nazis from the world-famous Goudstikker collection has resurfaced at the home of a notorious SS collaborator in the Netherlands, Dutch art detective Arthur Brand said on Monday.

Portrait of a Young Woman, by Dutch artist Toon Kelder, probably hung for decades in the home of descendants of Hendrik Seyffardt, Brand said, calling the case “the most bizarre of my entire career”.

The case echoes a discovery that made global headlines in 2025, when an 18th-century painting looted by the Nazis - also from the collection of the late Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker - was reported at a property in Argentina.

Nazi-looted Goudstikker painting found in the Netherlands

In the Dutch case, Brand said he was approached by a man who had recently uncovered two horrifying family secrets: he was descended from Seyffardt, and his family had displayed the looted artwork for years. The relative, who chose to remain anonymous, told Brand that he saw the painting hanging in the hallway of the home of Seyffardt’s granddaughter, whose grandfather was killed by members of the Dutch resistance in 1943.

Seyffardt, one of the Netherlands’ highest-ranking Nazi collaborators, commanded a Waffen-SS unit made up of Dutch volunteers on the Eastern Front. The New York Times put news of his death on its front page in 1943, while he was given an elaborate Nazi state funeral in The Hague, including a wreath sent by Adolf Hitler.

“Don’t tell anyone”

According to Brand, Seyffardt’s granddaughter told the relative that the painting was “art looted from Jews, stolen from Goudstikker”. “It is unsellable. Don’t tell anyone,” she reportedly said.

However, the relative wanted the story to become public and therefore contacted Brand, who has become well known for solving numerous high-profile art theft cases.

One family member told De Telegraaf: “I feel ashamed. The painting should be returned to the Goudstikker heirs.”

The grandmother, quoted by the Dutch newspaper, said the family was discussing whether the painting should be returned to the Goudstikker heirs and denied knowing that it had been looted. “I received it from my mother. Now that you confront me like this, I understand that the Goudstikker heirs want the painting back. I did not know that,” she said, according to the newspaper.

Brand’s investigation into the Goudstikker collection

Brand began his own investigation. The painting bears a Goudstikker label on its reverse, while the number 92 is engraved on its frame. He examined the records of a 1940 auction, at which part of Goudstikker’s looted collection was sold, and located item number 92: Portrait of a Young Woman by Toon Kelder.

Hermann Göring, a senior Nazi official, looted the entire Goudstikker collection when the art dealer fled to England in 1940. Brand believes that the Dutch collaborator Seyffardt acquired the painting at the 1940 auction and that it was passed down through successive generations.

Lawyers representing the Goudstikker heirs confirmed to Brand that the painting had been looted and called for it to be returned.

The family member who contacted Brand also wants the work returned to the Goudstikker heirs, but the police are powerless because the theft is time-barred.

The Dutch Restitutions Committee, which advises on art looted by the Nazis, is also unable to act because it cannot compel private individuals to return artworks. “The family member sees public exposure as the only way to hopefully return the painting to the Goudstikker heirs, to whom it rightfully belongs,” Brand told AFP.

Brand, dubbed the “Indiana Jones of the Art World” for his remarkable discoveries, said this case surpassed anything he had previously encountered. “I have already recovered artworks looted by the Nazis during the Second World War, including pieces from the Louvre, the Dutch Royal Collection and countless museums,” he said. “But finding a painting from the famous Goudstikker collection in the possession of the heirs of a notorious Dutch Waffen-SS general really surpasses everything.”